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Downtown Greenway trail in Baton Rouge gains momentum

downtown greenway baton rouge.jpg

A rendering of the proposed Downtown Greenway project, which will create a 2.75-mile jogging, bicycling and pedestrian path connecting City Park with downtown Baton Rouge.
(Photo by Downtown Development District)

After three days of public workshops and taking community input, the Downtown Development District and the project’s designers, the New Orleans landscape architecture firm Spackman Mossop and Michael are ready for the next step in the process of making the “Downtown Greenway” trail a reality.

The greenway is a proposed trail connecting City Park with downtown Baton Rouge.

NOLA.com | The-Times-Picayune reported Tuesday that the project creates a path from City Park and follows along the path of I-110, passing below the interstate, and ultimately travels up Seventh Street to end at Arsenal Park at the Capitol.

The 2.75-mile trail aims to provide pedestrians, joggers and bicyclists with an robust and safe way to get around Baton Rouge.

In the three-day workshop, the designers learned of public concerns regarding on-street parking and the overall cost a project of this magnitude, Elizabeth Mossop, director of the New Orleans firm said Thursday night.

Mossop said she has taken community input and implemented it into her firm’s design.

Davis Rhorer, DDD executive director, said the area is very diverse and it’s open for a lot of new opportunities. During Mossop’s presentation, she proposed possible private businesses taking form under the I-10 overpass.

Rhorer said the project is still at schematic levels and no specific details have been completed. The DDD is taking public input for another two weeks and by May or June they will submit a final plan to the design committee. Shortly after, there are plans to go out for bid on the construction of the project with an early 2014 competition date, Rhroer said.

Through construction and private entity possibilities, there are potential jobs, Rhorer said.

The DDD would have to get final approval from the state and city because the whole project is on public property.